Around the turn of the last century, American cities were full of housing options that are largely nonexistent today, including rooming houses and single-room occupancy buildings or SROs.

July 26, 2013 |

BD+C Staff

Around the turn of the last century, American cities were full of housing options that are largely nonexistent today, including rooming houses and single-room occupancy buildings or SROs. Building codes have effectively outlawed the bottom end of the private housing market, driving up rents on everything above it, argues the Sightline Institute'sAlan Durning. Durning insists we can maintain the fundamental regulations that prevent shoddy construction and fire hazards while doing away with what he describes as counterproductive societal standards of housing decency.